New Zealand Scene

Great month for jobseekers in February.

Australia & New Zealand

Figures from SEEK show that jobs advertised online rose 17.3 per cent this February when compared to the same period last year. The industries offering the most job opportunities on SEEK across New Zealand this February, and their average advertised annual salaries were:

Information & Communication Technology, $92,700

Trades & Services, $59,423

Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics, $66,805

Janet Faulding, general manager for SEEK New Zealand, said this February advertising on SEEK was fuelled by solid job ad uplift across the country.

“Advertising on SEEK has increased across most of New Zealand's major regions this February, with Auckland enjoying a staggering 19.2 per cent year on year [y/y] increase,” she said. “In Wellington, advertising on SEEK also continued to rise, up 11.8 per cent y/y. However, in Canterbury job ads dipped 2.6 per cent y/y this February,” she added.

Information and communication technology [ICT] remained the top hiring industry on SEEK for Auckland and Wellington this February. The most sought after ICT professionals in Auckland, and their average advertised annual salaries on SEEK were:

Developers & Programmers, $92,927

IT Business System Analysts, $92,202

- Help Desk & IT Support, $55,995

While in Wellington, the most in-demand ICT professionals and their average advertised annual salaries on SEEK were:

Developers & Programmers, $93,751

Programme & Project Managers, $105,277

- IT Business/System Analysts, $89,792

The top performing industry for the Canterbury region this February was Trades & Services. The most advertised jobs on SEEK for this industry and their average advertised annual salaries were:

Electricians, $66,721

Automotive Mechanics, $61,179

- Labourers, $28,821

“February was a great month to be jobseeker in New Zealand, because there was strong year on year job ad growth across several large employing industries on SEEK beyond ICT,” said Faulding. “These industries included manufacturing, transport and logistics [up 26 per cent y/y], healthcare and. medical [up 23 per cent y/y], trades and services [up 18 per cent y/y] and construction [up 12 per cent y/y].

“The large industries hiring now reflect what we're seeing in our economy, which is population growth putting pressure on our services and infrastructure. This is driving demand for across construction, trades and services and ealthcare, which are all at the front line of servicing our growing population,” Faulding continued.

The New Zealand SEEK Employment Index has enjoyed a y/y increase of 8.1 per cent this February. This points to favourable conditions for job seekers as there is slightly less applications, for each role. However, underneath this national figure there is a clear difference in candidate availability at a regional level.

It was a hirer's market in Canterbury this February when compared to the same period last year. For each job advertised there was a higher than average number of candidates applying, creating more competition for job seekers but providing hirers with a larger pool of candidates to choose from.

“It's important for job seekers in a hirer's market, to have an up-to-date SEEK Profile to help them get noticed by prospective employers because they're applying for jobs in a highly competitive market,” Faulding said.